


Play the Role

by dahdeemohn



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Friendship/Love, Holding Hands, Love Confessions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-16
Updated: 2016-06-16
Packaged: 2018-07-15 11:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7220905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dahdeemohn/pseuds/dahdeemohn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was all Sami’s fault, anyway. Maybe if he had kept his hands to himself or wasn’t so open and supportive or didn’t have a smile that rivaled the brilliance of the sun, Finn wouldn’t be constantly at war with his emotions. </p><p>Takes place during That Episode of Swerved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Play the Role

When Jason had pulled Finn aside to tell him about the episode of Swerved that would be filmed at the Performance Center, it was made clear that no one else could know about it.

“Not even Sami?” Finn asked, still giggly when the prank was outlined for him.

“ESPECIALLY not Sami!” Jason confirmed. “You can’t tell him at all. He’s gonna be a part of it.”

“Isn’t that mean?” Finn suddenly looked thoughtful, all traces of the previous giddiness gone.

“C’mon, he’s the perfect target, he’s so gullible. Besides, we both know that if he was in on it, he’d ruin the entire thing not even halfway through, like he’d start apologizing to everyone out of nowhere.”

“I suppose.” Finn sighed, suddenly less keen overall due to not liking the idea of tricking his friend. Well, not in this way, at least. There were plenty of other methods of deception that Finn utilized on a frequent basis that were far less cruel, or had no impact on Sami whatsoever; technically, what Finn did wasn’t even a matter of being actively deceptive, it was simply lying by omission. 

Besides, it was all Sami’s fault, anyway. Maybe if he had kept his hands to himself or wasn’t so open and supportive or didn’t have a smile that rivaled the brilliance of the sun, Finn wouldn’t be constantly at war with his emotions. So what if Finn sometimes leaned into hugs that were offered to him by Sami a little too hard? Or if he had started to take more pictures than usual of the two of them when they were together. Or if he tagged him in way too many Twitter and Instagram posts with too many emojis. 

So what if when Finn had recently let his feelings get the better of him, only to have a minor breakdown about it and be found by Sami, of all people? Then proceeded to lie to him and say that everything was perfectly fine, that it was just stress from work. Sami didn’t _have_ to reach out and hold his hand, squeeze it reassuringly and say stuff like “well if you ever need to talk…” or “I’m always here for you”. None of that was necessary at all. And yet, Finn gladly held onto the hand, said “thank you” over and over, almost never let go. It was just a moment between friends, Sami would do something like that for anyone, and they hadn’t entwined fingers or anything so intimate. 

When Sami showed up to work, all smiles as per usual, Finn shoved aside conflicting thoughts of longing and guilt, focused on his role in the prank and acting normal. Play the roles assigned, Finn: play the part for Swerved, play the part of being a champion and an example for the roster, play the part of being a good friend that wasn’t emotionally compromised from feelings that wandered far beyond platonic admiration. There was no room to scheme about how to get Sami to hold his hand again, no time to steal glances as they got ready to interact with the fans that had parted with their hard earned money to spend a day at the Performance Center, nor dwell on why Sami always had to be so close by. Why couldn’t he see what a distraction he was? Why didn’t he just keep his hands to himself? 

Finn rubbed his face before he put a smile on, assuring Sami that he just didn’t get enough sleep the night before, that recently it was difficult to do so and maybe he’d start looking into methods that could aid him. It didn’t seem convincing even in the slightest, which was ironic because it wasn’t a lie this time. Sleep didn’t come easily when you were too busy trying to evaluate the words and actions that your very affectionate and very good friend may have unintentionally shifted dangerously close towards amorous territory.

Later on, Willy had shown up with the group and started wreaking havoc as instructed, and the attention that Finn paid to him and the effort to act upon anything other than the directions that his emotions pulled him was so intense that he may have ended up overacting just a little bit. He shouldn’t have touched or clung to Sami during a fit of laughter, but it was so easy to get caught up in the moment; to complicate matters further, Sami was equally receptive and had actually honest-to-goodness held him, and Finn tried to not lose himself in how comforting and warm he was, and how nice he smelled.

“Hey, are you sure that you’re OK?” Sami whispered when Finn tensed up then quickly pulled away from the embrace, but Jason had interrupted before there was time to respond, and Sami was off to gently assert that Willy get off of the apron. This went on for several minutes, and every time Sami tried to get Finn’s attention, he’d be told to go back and take care of the situation. At some point, he squeezed Finn’s shoulder and looked into his eyes with the most concerned expression, and assured him that they’d talk later. _Great._

Something about Sami's earnestness was as endearing as it currently was heart wrenching, and Finn made several attempts to keep his distance, wishing that they had picked anyone else, wishing that he hadn’t agreed to pull a joke on Sami, someone that just wanted to help out so badly. As he sat alone in a ring, legs dangling off of the edge and playing with his phone, he was approached yet again by the very man he was trying to avoid.

“Hey, there you are.” Sami leaned up against the apron, propping an elbow up on it and placing a hand merely centimeters away from Finn’s knee. “I’m kinda worried about something. Can we please talk?” 

Finn glanced from his phone’s screen over to Sami’s face, avoiding staring at the hand on the mat and thoughts about moving his leg just a little closer. As Sami started to talk, the phone was set down, and the next part of the ruse was in progress. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, the person that exhibited the most concern in entire room was Sami, and Finn’s guilt threatened to ruin the elaborate joke. Jason yelled at the crowd, so Finn played along and directed most of his attention to his cues; however, in the corner of his eye, he could see Sami frantic and trying to take control of the situation. The reveal felt like it didn’t come quickly enough, and Finn worried that Sami would be upset for having strung him along.

However, there were no harsh words, not even a trace of discontent beyond confusion when Sami got into the ring to talk to Finn and tried to figure out what had just happened. There was giggling as Sami tried to insist that he was really angry and was TOTALLY about lay into someone.

“You’re so cute, Sami,” Finn giggled, but as soon as the words left his mouth he instantly regretted it, and Sami’s expression went from serious to yet again confused.

“Huh?”

“I said that it’s cute that you think that I’m buying that.” Finn hurriedly retracted, but the look on Sami’s face didn’t change. There was an uncomfortable moment of silence.

“Finn, I think-”

“Oh! Isn’t that Cass and Enzo over there?” Finn pointed to their friends, eternally thankful that they had come into view, and quickly ducked between the ropes to get away from whatever Sami was about to say; of course, Finn wasn’t alone in his escape, and Sami trailed close behind. Always so close. Close enough to catch whiffs of lemon from whatever hair product he used, which smelled tantalizing enough to eat, or at least taste, and Finn immediately chastised himself for letting his mind drift like that. 

Unfortunately, not even Enzo, Cass, other co-workers, or any of the fans could provide a long enough distraction that Finn needed to keep Sami off of his back. While the day progressed, the looks that he kept receiving spoke volumes, uncertainty and silent pleas, and Finn’s heart hurt each time that he saw them. Eventually, a breaking point was reached when he noticed Sami dejectedly slip away from the crowds, and was overheard saying that he needed “a moment”. 

There was a number of places that Sami could have escaped to that was off-limits to the rest of the fans, and Finn visited each of them, borderline in a panic over being the reason that his friend was upset. He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to think about this. But Sami was somewhere. Sami was possibly sad, hurt even, and it was all Finn’s fault. The downstairs portion was investigated and devoid of his friend. Perhaps the upstairs?

The door that lead to the staircase was pulled open, the automatic light sensor turned on, and Finn started climbing the steps two or three at a time, practically launching himself upstairs. When he got to the first landing and readied himself for the next flight, he looked down caught sight of red hair between the empty spaces of the metal stairs.

“Sami? That you?” Finn called out, and Sami turned looked up at him from his place on the first floor.

“Finn?” Sami’s voice was meek, burt still twinged with surprise.

“Hold on.” Finn walked back down, then once his feet were back on the ground he turned the corner so that he was in the hidden nook between the back corner of the wall and the staircase, now directly facing Sami. “What’re you doing here? I’ve been looking for you!”

“Sorry, I-” Sami ran fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, I just…”

“You wanted to talk?” Finn asked, full of regret for bringing it up, but needing anything to keep Sami from looking so uncertain.

“We don’t have to.” Sami’s head hung low, and Finn reached out to touch his arm, settling fingers just below the crook of the elbow and feeling the pulse just underneath the skin.

“But you wanted to. You asked several times to. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ignore you.” 

Sami inhaled, looking back up at Finn, expression focused and too intense, like the way that he gazed at opponents when they ribbed at him for being a goof and he wanted to be taken seriously. “I think you’ve been avoiding me lately.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Because I get too touchy-feely. Because I invade personal space, and I’m trying not to and I tell myself all the time to cut it out.” Sami swallowed. “And I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry that I grabbed at your hand, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Sami, it’s OK.” Finn insisted, forcing a smile as he thought carefully over the next few words. “I’m not offended! That’s how you are! There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“...and….” Sami trailed off and looked over to the side, avoiding eye contact. Under the fingers, flesh seemed to form bumps on their own accord, and Finn did his best to ignore it.

“And?”

“And I don’t usually do stuff like that.” Sami admitted. “Your hand was free and I went for it. It was impulsive, but it felt right and I shouldn’t have done that but I did anyway and I’m really sorry.”

“Oh.” Finn didn’t have words, his brain still mulling over the ones that Sami had unleashed between the two of them. There had to be something better to say, there must be, but he couldn’t form coherent thought, not now.

“Finn, I’m really sorry.” Sami’s voice started to crack. “You held it back and I thought that maybe you felt...you felt the same. And I shouldn’t have said anything, shouldn’t have done it, should have left it alone, should have left you alone. I’m so sorry. Please don’t hate me, please don’t-”

“What? Hate you?” Finn’s head snapped up, registering everything else now going on. Tears started to well up in Sami’s eyes, his bottom lip trembling. No no no, that was wrong. That couldn’t be. “Why on Earth...Sami, no!”

It was still difficult to use words to convey the way the weight of what this moment truly meant, after months of internal struggle to fight and hide away these feelings, of trying to act normal, of playing and trying to fit into the role that he had graciously accepted. In lieu of verbal communication, he pulled Sami into his arms and embraced him, clutching tightly as though his life depended on it.

“Please love, don’t cry.” Finn whispered as he brought a hand up and rested it on the back of Sami’s head.

“...’love’?” Sami sniffed.

“Mhm.” Finn nodded, bringing the side of his face next to Sami’s and resting it there. They stood quietly like that for a few seconds, Sami finally bringing his arms up to cautiously wrap around Finn’s midsection.

“Did you mean it when you said that I was cute? Back In the ring?”

“I...y’caught that, huh?” Finn chuckled.

“I was hoping.” Sami laughed back.

“Of course I did.” Finn gingerly kissed the side of Sami’s face, hoping that it was OK to do so; the grin that he caught from the corner of his eye confirmed that it was.

“Should we get going? They might send someone looking for us.”

“Nah, let’s just stay here a while longer. They’ll be clearin’ out soon anyway.”

The automatic light sensor turned off. Finn couldn’t see it in the dark, but he felt Sami smile as they pressed their lips together, their hands held tightly, fingers this time entwined.

**Author's Note:**

> I just needed to get this out of my system. I'm such a sucker for love confessions and first kisses.


End file.
